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Some authors write from personal experience and since Garry Rodgers was a homicide detective and forensic coroner, he knows all the gory details about death.
You can listen to a great audio interview with him here on writing about death and crime scenes, and in today's guest post, Garry explains how your characters can get away with murder.
Are you planning on murdering someone, but your only stop is the fear of getting caught?
Or are you plotting a thriller where your serial-slayer stays steps ahead of that dogged detective who’s also top-tier in her trade?
Maybe both? Well, I’ll give you a cake and let you eat it, too… if you’ll follow me on how homicide cops investigate murders.
Think about it. There are only four ways you can get caught. Or get away with it. All seasoned sleuths intrinsically know this, and they build their case on these four simple pillars. Let’s take a look at them. Firstly, what not to do.
# 1 Don’t leave evidence behind that can identify you to the scene.
Such as fingerprints, footwear or tire impressions, DNA profiles, ballistic imprints, gunshot residue, toolmarks, bitemarks, handwritten or printed documents, hair, fibre, chemical signatures, organic compounds, cigarette butts, spit chewing gum, toothpicks, a bloody glove that doesn’t fit, or your wallet with ID (seriously, that’s happened).
# 2 Don’t take anything with you that can be linked.
Including all of the above, as well as the victim’s DNA, her car, jewelry, money, bank cards, any cell phone and computer records, that repeated modus operandi of your serial kills, no cut-hair trophies, no underwear souvenirs, and especially don’t keep that dripping blade, the coiled rope, or some smoking gun.
# 3 Don’t let anyone see you.
No accomplices, no witnesses, and no video surveillance. Camera-catching is a huge police tool these days. Your face is captured many times daily – on the street, at service stations, banks, government buildings, private driveways, and the liquor store.
# 4 Never confess.
Never, ever, tell anyone. That includes your best drinking buddy, your future ex-lover, the police interrogator, or the undercover agent.
So, if you don’t do any of these four things, you can’t possibly get caught.
Now… What To Do
Humans are generally messy and hard creatures to kill – even harder to get rid of – so murder victims tend to leave a pool of evidence. Therefore it’s best not to let it look like a murder.
Writers have come up with some fascinating and creative ways to hide the cause of death. Problem is – most don’t work. Here’s two sure-fire ways to do the deed and leave little left.
# 1 Cause an Arterial Gas Embolism (AGE)
This one’s pretty easy, terribly deadly, and really difficult to call foul. An AGE is a bubble in the blood stream, much like a vapor lock in an engine’s fuel system. People die when their central nervous system gets unplugged, and a quick, hard lapse in the carotid artery on the right side of the neck can send an AGE into their cerebral circulation. The brain stops, the heart quits, and they drop dead.
Strangulation is an inefficient way to create an AGE and it leaves huge tell-tale marks. You’re far better off giving a fast blast of compressed air to the carotid… maybe from something like that thing you clean your keyboard with… just sayin’.
# 2 Good Ol’ Poison
Ah, the weapon of women. Man, have there been a lot of poisonings over the centuries and there’s been some pretty, bloody, diabolical stories on how they’re done. Problem again. Today there’s all that cool science. The usual suspects of potassium cyanide, arsenic, strychnine, and atropine still work well, but they’ll jump out like a snake-in-the-box during a routine tox screen.
You need something that’s lethal, yet a witch to detect. I know of two brews – one is a neurotoxin made from fermented plant alkaloid, and the other is a simple mix of fungi & citrus. This stuff will kill you dead and leave no trace, but I think it’s quite irresponsible to post these formulas on the net.
So there, I’ll leave it with you to get away with murder. But if you have some crafty novel plot that needs help, I’m dying to hear your words.
Oh, and watch out for what’s in that cake that you’re eating.
Are you writing about murder and have some questions for Garry? Go ahead and ask in the comments.
Book purchase link:
No Witnesses To Nothing: Garry Rodgers: Amazon.com: Kindle Store
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1 2 3 Next »Excellent post. Quite useful information.
A question if you would. How long does it take a body to float in a body of water? My villan is going to hit the victim with his can, then throw the victim over the bridge into a major river. Are there any fish that live in rivers that will eat at the soft tissue? Ok, so that's two questions.
Thanks again for a wonderful post!
Melinda
Hi Melinda and thanks for your comments.
Buoyancy of cadavers is really subject to water temperature and body density. Immediately after death, decomposition sets in and internal gasses build up which cause the corpse to float. The colder the water, the slower the decomp, so the longer flotation takes; and vice versa. Less dense body masses rise faster than heavy ones. It also depends on what the deceased is dressed in. Some bodies never sink... and some never surface... but as a rule of thumb, in 15 C water temperature, about 3 days for nature to create what we call a 'Floater'.
As for fish, this would depend in what part of the world your story is set. Here in North America there are very few fresh water critters that would feed off a human corpse, however the salt water is a marine life smorgasboard. In jungle climates I know of piranhas, crocodiles, etc. that attack animals, live & dead. I think this would require some local research as to what's feasting.
Hope this helps. If you'd like to explore this further, send me an email at garry@dyingwords.net.
Is it weird to say how excited I am to have this conversation on my blog :) 'buoyancy of cadavers' is an awesome phrase - thanks for all your generosity in sharing Garry!
No weirder than looking forward to getting up and going to the next death scene :D
Great Post, Garry! I'm just beginning to work on the crime itself in my new work and this info is very helpful. As I move through it, I may be around to ask a few questions. Heading over to your site now!
Well, thank you, Marcia!
Best of success in your new crime work and if there's anything I can mislead you with, just shout :D
Thanks, I appreciate that!
Very interesting piece! I'm always thinking about clever and entertaining ways to kill people...in fiction. :)
Thanks so much for this.
Some folks have made a very good living doing that, Robert! Er, ah, I mean by writing books. :)
BTW, Thanks for your email with the 'Excited Delerium/Taser' question at garry@dyingwords.net. I don't mind publicly answering these questions, but the response is too lengthy to post here.
Joanna,
I would suggest you're going about this the wrong way. What sets an author apart is not how well he can compete with CSI (pretty hard), but what YOU add to your story.
You are capable of murder. So am I. I had a playwriting teacher once who looked at us over his half-glasses and said, "Have you never looked at your spouse across the breakfast table and thought, 'I want to kill the son of a bitch?'"
There's a murderer inside all of us. My advice: write that. And leave poisons and crime labs to CSI.
my $0.02
JMP
I guess I'll keep this post's information in my back pocket. For writing use only, of course.
Thanks for the post Garry and Joanna. :)
Hi Shaquanda. Glad you enjoyed the post! I see you're a regular Creative Penn follower and a big fan of Joanna's, too. You've obviously got good taste.
Just be careful about keeping this info in your pocket after applying it, though. One never knows when one might get patted down ;)
Great post. I'll definitely take note of Garry's e-mail. I'm currently in the editing phase on my second thriller novel. It's always great to have a professional resource to bounce imaginative ideas off of to ensure they are written in a credible way.
If I can be any help at all, Bryan, just drop me a line. If I don't know the answer, I'll be more than happy to make something up.
Hey, I'm a fiction writer, too!
GREAT post, Garry and Joanna! Love this stuff and it's hard to find so I thank you both very much.
Hi Susan! Great to see you here and I truly appreciate your comments, as always.
It's nice (if that's the right word :)) to see that a subject as serious as human deaths can be found interesting & entertaining, rather than offensive. I think most people are very curious about what really goes on in homicide cases, hence the immense popularity of murder mysteries & forensic thrillers. These stories, accurately done, can take the reader right to the edge of reality and provide that 'rush' without their actual danger of going over it. In that, our story-telling fulfills a basic human desire for excitement - the endorphin release.
It's also peculiar that few resources are available to help writers with technical aspects of crime/thriller writing when there are so many professionals with gobs of expertise that they could offer. I think a lot are reluctant to step forward for fear of peer criticism, but I'm happy to help where I can.
I agree, Garry. And presenting technical detail seldom minimizes a character's agony in the face of it. Again, thanks to both you and Joanna for the post.
This post was so timely that I've been re-reading it since it was first posted. I have a few questions I will email, due to the fact that I'm editing and can't make complete sentences right now. So excited! Thank you again, Joanna, don't know how you do it but you've always got what I need.